From 4-Foot-8 All the Way to Triple-A

On the flip side of those getting released as Major League teams made their final cuts is the story of Boston farmhand Daniel Nava.  The switch-hitting outfielder is said to have been only 4-foot-8 and 80 pounds when he entered high school. But he plays up.

Nava was only 5-foot-5 when he graduated so when he walked on at Santa Clara he spent two years doing laundry and being encouraged to look at coaching in the future, according to a feature story by Alex Speier of WEEI.com in Beantown.

Nava, now 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds, has a three-year career .345 batting average as a pro, starting with Chico, CA where he was Golden League Most Valuable Player while leading the Outlaws to the 2007 league championship.

“This guy, all he’s done is hit since we’ve gotten him,” praised Red Sox Farm Director Mike Hazen. “I still know I have a lot to do,” Nava told Speier.  “It (success so far) allows me at least the opportunity to say, ‘You know what?  At least I have a shot—a better shot than I had the year before.’”  Boston put Nava in four major league spring training games (1-for-3), and he is opening the year with Triple-A Pawtucket, RI.

Dream Indy Pitching Duel Materializes

I started getting emails early Wednesday to be sure I knew about the dream pitching matchup that night in Kansas City. Sometimes, these events fizzle.  This one did not.

It was Luke Hochevar for the host Royals and Max Scherzer, making his first start for Detroit after a winter deal that brought him from Arizona. Part of the story is that these are two highly-drafted young right-handers for whom their teams have great hopes.  They could become two of the best the game has to offer.

The other part of this tale is that both Hochevar, a Tennessee product, and Scherzer, who came out of the University of Missouri, tasted their first professional baseball in the American Association. Hochevar was with Fort Worth,TX in 2006; Scherzer pitched for the same Cats one year later.  Former Fort Worth President John Dittrich’s email said “I am pretty certain” it is the first such pairing ever.

Inning after inning they dueled on a chilly Missouri night.  Neither team could scratch out a run.  Scherzer gave up only one hit, a looping two-out single by Jason Kendall in the fifth, and two walks in six scoreless innings and 91 pitches.  Hochevar gave up five hits and a walk, but was much more efficient with his pitches.  He needed only 89 pitches (both had 57 strikes) to get through 7.2 innings, leaving with a 1-0 lead.  The Royals needed 11 innings to win, 3-2, but the historic match had been a dandy.

(This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes on Independent Baseball.  Fans may subscribe at www.WirzandAssociates.com, enjoy his blogs, www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com and www.IndyBaseballChatter.com, or comment to RWirz@aol.com.  The author has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)